UNLEAVENED BREAD

“Meaning Of The Night To Be Remembered”

Fred Coulter March 31, 1999

So tonight we are going to study TNMTBR, which is The Night Much To Be Remembered. Because someone called me up and said, “Fred, why do we keep the Night To Be Much Remembered?” And I said, “Well there are a lot of reasons why we keep the Night Much To Be Remembered.” Well he said, “Would you please do something for us so that we can have it for this coming Night To Be Remembered, because it has become just to much of a social thing rather than a real meaningful thing?” So I said, “Ok, I’ll do that.” So I’m going to do that. Other people have claimed, that in order to debunk it, they said, “Well that’s just the invention of Herbert Armstrong”, see. Well no, it wasn’t the invention of Herbert Armstrong. It was the invention of God, ok?

So let’s go to Exodus 12. And this has tremendous meaning when we come to understand it. It also has meaning for us today. Now see in everything that there is in the Bible, you have first the physical and then the spiritual. That’s a principle throughout the entirety of the Bible. The first covenant with Israel was physical requiring obedience to the letter of the law. So likewise we will find with the Night Much To Be Remembered. And there is also a crossover on this because Paul writes and says, “If you are Christ’s then are you Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” Correct. Now what does that have to do with the Night To Be Remembered? We’re going to see.

So here in Exodus 12, let’s come to verse 40 first of all. “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass,…” Now remember that statement. That is a key, key statement, “the selfsame day it came to pass.” “…That all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.” Now here it is. “It is a night to be much observed [or remembered] unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is the night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations” (Ex. 12:40-42).

Now first of all, one of the misconceptions that the Jews have is this: they believe that all the children of Israel are Jews. Which would be like this: if you were in a family with 12 brothers, which it was, and one brother took credit for all the rest of the 11, wouldn’t you think that would be outrageous? Well, that’s exactly what it is, see. There were 12 tribes of the children of Israel. Today the church is called spiritual Israel. So you have the physical children of Israel first, and now you have the spiritual children of Israel, the church. And the church is not a building, and the church is not an organization. The church is all those who have been called and receive the Spirit of God through repentance, and baptism, and laying on of hands. So the church also should do this because we’ll see that there is meaning for us.

Now we all know that they went out at the beginning of the 15th day of the first month. Let’s go to Numbers 33:3 and let’s see this. For some of us this is not new territory. This is kind of old territory to us. But we have to go back and build on that foundation, so we will.

Now verse 3, no let’s go to verse 2 here, nah let’s go to verse 1 (audience laughter). “These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt…” Now mark that phrase, “went forth out of the land of Egypt.” “…With their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow [which means the day after] after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians” (Nu. 33:1-3). And remember, remember this, the Passover is on the 14th, that’s what God says. It’s on the 14th, and that’s what the whole book is about.

And by the way, when you stop and think about it, why is there so much confusion over the Passover? Is it that we’re all stupid? Is that why there’s so much confusion? Why do you suppose there’s so much confusion concerning the Passover, especially the New Testament Passover? Let’s ask the question this way: What does the Passover for those of us in the New Covenant picture? It pictures the renewing of the Covenant every year till Christ returns, ok? Now it’s very simple. If you are not in covenant with God you can’t renew it, correct? So Satan has all of his agents out there to confuse everything so that no one will be in covenant with God. That’s why. That’s why there’s a 14th, a 15th, Easter, 3pm in the afternoon, leavened bread, unleavened bread, wine, grape juice. Well the Mormons are in prison because they take bread and water, see. You know they are more righteous than God. So anyway, that’s why.

Now also there’s another thing that Satan doesn’t want to happen. He doesn’t want you to come out of Egypt, spiritually speaking. Ok, we’ll cover that in just a minute here. Let’s go to Deuteronomy 16. In Deuteronomy 16 I explain very thoroughly in the Passover book, and I’m sorry that we don’t have it out. It’s taken a whole lot longer to do it than we expected but we’re making pretty good progress at the present time.

Now here in Deuteronomy 16, this is one of those chapters that is very difficult so I’m not going to go through and explain it, but I’m just going to read verse 1 because this tells us that they went out on the night much to be observed. Verse 1, “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.” So they went out on the night of the 15th, and of course you know the day begins at sunset and ends at sunset.

Now let’s come to Psalm 114. And there’s quite a bit about Egypt in the Bible. Of course you know the world is very interested in Egypt with all the Egyptology and digging in the… You know that would, to me, be a very depressing nonproductive thing, out there in the desert digging in these tombs and these pyramids looking for bones. You know, what a thing. You know the Egyptians did all of this so they could live forever. But you know when they dig them up they’re still dead. (Laughter) They’re still dead. Ok. The only one who’s overcome death has been Christ because He’s the first of the firstfruits. No one else has. And no one else will until Christ returns. They can try everything that they want to try. I mean you can live the best life you want to live, you can discipline yourself, you can exercise, all those things area good and beneficial to a point. You can take vitamins, you can take herbs, you can take, you know all kind of things but what’s going to happen? You’re going to get old. Now when we’re young we don’t think about getting old. You know, you don’t think about getting old. You’re thinking about how you’re going to live your life. My age, I look in the mirror here, and I’ll be 65 and on Medicare in August, you know. And I look there, you know, and I used to talk about people who had white hair. Well ok, now I got it, ok. And no one has avoided death except Christ. That’s why He’s our Savior, and that is the key in everything that we’re going to understand.

Now back to our subject at hand here, Psalm 114:1, “When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.” Now Judah means the Jews, so here we have Judah and Israel again as it is all through out the Bible. “The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back” (Psa. 114:1-3). Two miraculous things. That would be like going out here to the narrow straits. And just imagine that you had all the children of Israel lined up along the seashore of the narrow straits and there’s no bridge. It just blew away. When I was a kid we lived over at Poulsbo and we came down right after the bridge was put up, and we drove over it. And what was it, two weeks later it blew down. Ok. Well what God did, He just miraculously opened the Red Sea. Now that’s nothing for God to do. If He can create the universe, you don’t have to create an excuse for God that God didn’t open the Red Sea, but they went through the Reed Sea and it was only ankle deep. You know, that’s what a lot of people think.

So anyway, a tremendous thing. And it was a huge thing that opened up. It wasn’t like the movie “Ten Commandments” you know, where you got this little narrow thing to go down through. It was wide because the children of Israel had all stationed out like this in kind of a column and what God did was open it up and then they did a flanking move straight across. And they got across very quickly. So that was a miraculous thing. It says here, “The mountains skipped like rams,…”, well that’s what happened. I mean you’ve never seen an earthquake like that, have you? Now in Hollister we have earthquakes and every once in a while we some pretty good ones. But I remember I was on the phone one time and I said, “Uh oh we’ve got an earthquake here”, and the woman on the other end of the phone just about had a conniption. I said, “You know it’s just kind of rolling a little bit, you know, and everything’s fine.”

“…And the little hills like lambs. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;...” You see, too many people are into religion and they are not into God so they don’t have the concept of the power of God. And so all of this is to help us really understand the power of God. “…Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters” (vs. 4-8).

Now let’s go to Revelation 11:8. Let’s see the spiritual application for us. Now this is talking about the two witnesses. We just want verse 8. “And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,…” It’s talking about our society today. And when you get into all this mystery religion thing that’s in the world, all of that goes right back to Egypt. So it’s no wonder that they’re resurrecting the religions of Egypt. There are even some people now who practice the rites of Isis. You’ve probably seen that on Discovery Channel or something like that on public TV. You know they wouldn’t dare put anything true about Christianity on there. I wonder what would happen if I went up and asked for equal time. “Well you’re not approved”, you know. Anyway, sorry about that. “…Where also our Lord was crucified.” Now where was He crucified? In Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives. But this is what God thinks of it. Now we are to come out of the world. So part of the meaning of the Night Much To Be Remembered is to remember the calling of God, that He brought us out of the world. That’s one of the very important things for us to remember. We didn’t come out by ourselves. No one can come out of the world by themselves. God has to do something in your life. Now it may be through someone else, it may be through circumstances, but God has got to do something to call you out. You can’t come out of the world yourself.

Now let’s go to John 17 and let’s see that. This is part of the prayer of Jesus the night just before He was arrested to be led off to be crucified in the morning of the Passover day. Let’s pick it up here in verse 8. Jesus said, “For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me;…” Now this is also very important to understand. Jesus didn’t say one word that the Father did not instruct Him to give. Isn’t that something? You think about that. That’s why it’s so important if anyone is going to be teaching, that they teach the scriptures, because how can you do anything greater than what God has already done? Nothing. “…And they have received them,…” Now that’s a very important thing. “Received” just doesn’t mean that you kind of heard it, because a lot of people hear it but they don’t get it. But “received” means “to welcome, to embrace”, as it were. So you have embraced them. “…That I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world,…” (John 17:8-9). Why? Because the world is as Sodom and Egypt. God is going to take care of the world in His time. That’s why the holy days lay out the plan of God. So when you come to know the holy days properly then you’ll understand everything is in God’s hand and He’s going to work it out in His way in His time. Obviously if God were out there desperately trying to save the world today, He has lost. But there’s always something that’s important to remember, God will let Satan think that he is winning when he’s actually losing. And I’m sure that Satan thought that when Christ was crucified and He died that he had won, but he just lost. And I’m sure that with a lot of things that have happened in our lives and the church being scattered and so forth the way we’ve all experienced, I imagine Satan thinks that he has won. He hasn’t. He has lost, because now we’re closer to God than ever before, at least we should be, see. So Jesus never, never spoke anything on His own.

Verse 10, “And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them.” That’s why brethren, the thing that is important, and I think God is leading us in understanding this. And you will hear a lot about this because I think it is very, very important in order also to reach out to people in the world, is that people in the world are sick of religion. And God has not called us to be “religious”. God has called us to be in a relationship with Him, see. It says here, “…And I am glorified in them.” This is all part of the Night To Be Remembered. “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are” (vs. 10-11). So there’s great significance to this, because it ties in with the Passover but as soon as the Passover has been accomplished and there’s a great thing after that. The Passover was a tremendous thing when all the firstborn in Egypt were killed, man and beast. Well now the Passover where Christ was killed and God did not pass over His firstborn, but had Him crucified so that we could come out from under sin, see. So you have the Passover first, then you have the Night To Be Remembered, the Days of Unleavened Bread, and you come out of sin, and all of those things combined.

Verse 12, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves” (vs. 12-13). And too many of us have been miserable, correct? And too many people in a religion, a Christian professing religions of this world are miserable. And part of the reason why they’re miserable is because they don’t have the Spirit of God. They understand some of the Word of God and they’re trying their best to do certain things, but you know how it is when you try and do it on your own. Sooner or later you find out that you can’t make any progress, and so they give up. And all of us have been through so many things that it’s really wonderful to have some joy, see. And part of the Night To Be Remembered is that joy. Now the joy comes at a great price, as we’re going to see.

Verse 14, “I have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them,…” Now that is not only an accurate statement of what took place when Jesus gave this prayer, but this is also an ongoing prophetic thing for us. And that’s why it’s so important that we come to that relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ because when the world turns to hate us in the way that it’s going to happen, if you don’t have a relationship with God you’re not going to stand. Now notice, “…The world has hated them because they are not of the world,…” Very important thing to understand here. The little English word “of” comes from the Greek work ek, which can mean “from”. Whatever we are doing it’s not “from” what the world is, but it’s “from” what Christ is. It’s “from” what the Father is. That’s very important because with the Holy Spirit in us then we have Christ in us. That’s the most profound thing brethren that you need to understand.

Now notice, “…Because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world,…” And most of us as Christians really want to be taken out of the world. But we can’t because Jesus prayed that we wouldn’t be. We have to live in it but not be part of it. So that’s why we have the Passover and Unleavened Bread every year. “…But that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil [one].” That’s why the Passover, on the correct day, in the correct manner is so important. And the Night To Be Remembered is so important because it’s one of those things that when we do it properly and love God it keeps us from Satan. That doesn’t mean he can’t come and try and temp us and test us and all that sort of thing. But he can’t get us and take us away from God. And it’s a truism throughout the whole Bible brethren, that when you do from the heart, what God gives you to do, you understand it. And you can’t understand it otherwise. And that is the key why the world does not understand, because they won’t do it. See, they all today think that God should have given the Ten Commandments with a Gallop CNN poll so they could vote on it. And our President would be very happy, see. Now we don’t want to pollute at this too much. (Laughter) “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is [and it should read: the truth] truth” (vs. 14-17).

Now, another thing that this Night To Be Remembered pictures. Let’s go to John 18:36. We have been called out of the world to be in the kingdom of God. We have been called out of the world to receive eternal life. We have been called out of the world while living in the world to have a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Now, one of the things we are looking forward to, because just as the children of Israel were leaving Egypt to go where? To the promised land. The Night To Be Remembered for us, since on the Passover night we renewed the covenant, correct? Now on the Night To Be Remembered we are renewing our continued journey toward the kingdom of God which is going to come. That’s why Jesus said here in verse 36, “…My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence [here].” So we’re looking for the kingdom to come. And the Night To Be Remembered is the beginning of that journey. You always go back and renew the beginning of the journey.

Now let’s come to Galatians 1, again continuing concerning coming out of the world. And I think lots of times we really don’t appreciate what God has done for us in bringing us out of the world. You know I’ve mentioned this a time or two before but I’ll go ahead and mention it here. I took… On one of my trips I was back in the Washington D.C. area, and there was a man who took me to see the sights in Washington. Well in going around and seeing the sights in Washington, after seeing them on television, when you see them on television they look big and they look mammoth, you know, like the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Monument and all of that. When you get there and drive by it they’re just eeny, teeny little things. I was shocked. And I…he said, “What do you think?” I said, “I’m underwhelmed.” You know, because everybody he takes on the tour, they go “Oh, ah, oh”, and I’m saying, “Is that really it?” So I guess I kind of offended him a little bit. I really didn’t mean to offend him, but anyway.

We drove by the White House. It had all the barriers there, and it’s really not a very big place. I was shocked. And then he said, “Come on let’s go into the Library of Congress.” Ok, so we went into the Library of Congress and that is a mammoth building. We walked in there and we got to the central part of it, and it’s round like this and on each side then they have where they store all the books. Then they’ve got another building, big building across the street from them where they have the rest of it. And you walk in here, and here are all these little desks all around with a little lights. That’s so anyone can come in there and get a book out of the Library of Congress and sit down there and read it right there. And then he took me in and he showed me the computer listing of all the books and everything. And here there are books and books and books and books, and books, and books, every book you could ever think of, you know, just mammoth. And of course I love books, I read all the time, see, but I was really impressed, not with the Library of Congress and the millions of volumes. What struck me was, everything we need to know about eternal life is in one book. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that amazing? And only God can do that. I mean you need to understand that.

Now here back to the subject at hand, Galatians 1. Now I want you to notice the sequence of a lot of these things as we go along. Let’s pick it up here in verse 1. “Paul, an apostle, (not of men,…” That means “not by men”, he was not authorized by a board or a committee, and he didn’t receive any kind of ordination certificate. Not that those things are necessarily wrong, but I’m just emphasizing what Paul wrote here. “…But by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, Who raised Him from the dead;) and all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,…” Now notice this sequence, verse 4:

“Who gave Himself for our sins, [Passover, forgiveness of sins, right?]

That He might deliver us from this present evil world [and that’s what the Night Much To Be Remembered pictures],

According to the will of God and our Father:…” (Gal. 1:1-4).

So that’s a tremendous thing that we need to rehearse on the Night To Be Remembered as well - we’ve been delivered from the present evil world.

Now let’s come to Ephesians 2. Remember how we read in John 17 “to keep us from the evil one.” Coming out of Egypt means we’ve been delivered from Satan the Devil, we’ve been delivered from Egypt. Very important. And we are to remember that it took the death of Christ to make this happen. Verse 1, “And you hath He quickened [that means “to be made alive” spiritually], who were dead in trespasses and sins;…” Even though people are out there walking around, they’re dead in sins and trespasses. “…Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world [which is what? Sodom and Egypt], according to the prince of the power of the air [that is Satan the Devil], the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation [conduct] in times past [see, we have come out of Egypt, come out of the world] in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:1-3). So God has delivered us from that.

Let’s go to 1 John 2. This is also very important concerning coming out of the world. Once we come out of the world what are we to do concerning the world? Because you see…now tonight we can look out here and we can see, here it is on Friday night Bible Study, we can look out there and there are thousands of people. And this is only one little section of one part of one town, and you’ve got the whole world out there. And then you go to some sin-cities like Reno and Los Vegas, and I’m sure there are other cities in the world just like that. And they have all kinds of evil things going on. And that’s all a part of the world. But you look out there and you see the lights and oh that’s lovely and everything is fine, you know, that sort of thing. But spiritually here’s what we are to do. Verse 15, “Love not the world [that is, the whole operation of society, is what it’s talking about], neither the things that are in the world.” And that’s one thing about getting older. You’re not so enamored with things. You’re just not.

Like I was talking to a woman the other day. I told her, “Well I’ve decided to keep my Nisson Centra, because even the new Nissons have the same steering wheel, the same stick shift, the same speedometer thing, everything’s the same. And she said, “Yea, besides that as soon as you drive it out it’s used.” (Laughter) And I never thought of it quite that way, but she’s right. The things that are in the world. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth [is passing] away, and the lust thereof: but he [the one who is doing] that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17). So that’s what the Night Much To Remember means, we are on that journey.

Let’s go to Titus 2. And you see, all of these things…now we’ve been in the church how many years? Let’s be honest. We’ve been in the church how many years and how long has it taken us to come to some of this knowledge and understanding? I mean a long time, right? I am amazed, I’m amazed how much is in the Bible, you know, that that’s why we need to apply ourselves to the Word of God, see.

Now religious people do this. They take sections of the Bible for their religion that they’re comfortable with because they’ve had their own Gallop CNN poll. And they’ve decided, “Well we’ll take this commandment because we agree with it. We’ll take this commandment because we agree with it. But the Sabbath commandment we won’t take because we don’t agree with it.” They don’t say it that way, but they say, “We have something better, we’re going to improve on what God has done”, see. Well you can’t improve on what God has done. And you get so stuck in a rut in things that you don’t even know what you’re doing. And as all religions happen, they all get down to some sort of social political thing. And when that happens brethren, you cease learning the Word of God.

Now a lot of the things I’m bringing out here tonight, I have never brought out before in this way. But since someone really asked the question and said, “I would really like it really explained why we as Christians ought to keep the Night Much To Be Remembered.” I said, “Ok, I’ll do that.” And so, let me also say this, that fully 50% of the things that I bring or present are the result of questions or needs that people have. And then one thing leads to another, and that leads to another, and that leads to another, see.

Now let’s go to Titus 2:11, we’re going to notice the same sequence here. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation [So here it is, God has to bring salvation just like He had to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt] hath appeared to all men. Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; [How?] looking for that blessed hope [which then is the resurrection], and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-14). Now these are the good works which are motivated by the Spirit of God. So you see the same sequence. That’s why the Night To Be Remembered is important for us because, 1) we have been redeemed. We have been saved from this evil world, and even though we are still in it we are not of it.

Now chapter 3 and verse 3, “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish,…” And you look back, you think of all the foolish dumb things you’ve done. I mean some of the things are just so stupid it’s incredible, and God saves you from them many times and you don’t even realize it. The reason we do foolish things is because we are incomplete. That’s why. And if you’re incomplete you’re bound to do stupid things. Well, God has saved us from them, see. We were “…sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers [different] lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. [I think, in the church we still need to learn how to stop that.] But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward [all men] man appeared, [with His death], not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy [Spirit] Ghost;…” (Titus 3:3-5). So the Night To Be Remembered is also to remember when you received the Holy Spirit to lead you and start you out on the way that you are to go, which then keynotes the thing for the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Let’s go to Romans 12, and here is what all of this is to be.

Part 2

Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable [or spiritual] service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind [that is through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God], that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2). Then verse three follows along. See we are to learn. Everything in our experience being in a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ and our spiritual life, everything is to build, see. Everything is to build. And what the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures for us and the reason we go through it every year is because we are never ever to be satisfied with the current status that we are in.

Now what do I mean by that? I don’t mean that you should be nervous. I don’t mean that you should be depressed and down upon yourself. I mean that what you did yesterday is already over with. Tomorrow is not here so don’t worry about it cause you can’t do anything good or bad today for tomorrow. So it has to be today. And what you have done today, you’re to take that and build upon tomorrow. And then the next day build upon that. And down through life and time you build and grow in character and grace and knowledge. And it doesn’t come all at once. And that’s all a part of eating the unleavened bread, that is to put in God’s way and to get rid of our way. And it’s really getting rid of the way of thinking with carnal nature and letting the Spirit of God and the Word of God lead us into thinking the way that God does. That’s what’s so important. All that has to do with the Night To Be Remembered.

Now, let’s go back to Exodus 12 and let’s look at another part of the Night To Be Remembered because this is also very important as we carry it through. Let’s to back and read, right were we started out here, verse 40. “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt:…” (Ex. 12:40-42). Now why the term “the selfsame day”? Remember when we started I said, “Remember that phrase.” It’s very important. Where did that come from and what was the first night to be remembered that we can look back to and see where it began?

Let’s go to Genesis 15, and here is the covenant to confirm the promises that God gave to Abraham. And remember the selfsame night, selfsame day, exact same day. Now also remember that what we are dealing with, we are dealing with Passover and then the first day of Unleavened Bread. That sequence is found here in Genesis 15. And if we can find the selfsame day, which was the 15th, which we will find here in Genesis 15, then we will know that the observance of the Night Much To Be Remembered has its foundation in Genesis 15 as also does the Passover. And since it’s the selfsame day it is the 14th and 15th. Now in the new Passover book I’ve got a chart showing that, and I explain it very thoroughly. But this is really something brethren, that if we understand what we are doing goes way back to Abraham, that that’s something.

Now let’s begin right here, Genesis 15:4, “And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be” (Gen. 15:4-5). Now if you don’t have the tape, “The Three Covenants of Abraham” or “The Three Most Important Verses In The Bible”, that tape, be sure and get it cause I go into it in quite a bit of detail. I won’t be able to do it here.

“And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness” (vs. 6). Now you see, why is belief counted as righteousness? I’ll cover that during the days of unleavened bread. It’s very important. What is the most profound thing you can do? What is the most profound thing you can do? That is, believe God, because everything else comes from that. Every action you take comes from a belief system in your mind. Whether for good or whether for bad, whether smart or whether stupid, comes from what’s in your mind. So therefore the most important thing to do is to believe because that does what? That changes the mind. And belief converts the mind. And in believing, who makes it possible for you to believe but God, see. So we’re dealing with a profound spiritual thing that we are to understand in the Passover and the Night To Be Remembered, and then coupled with the first holy day, see. Very profound.

So he believed and it was counted as righteousness. “And He said to him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees,…” Now very interesting. I was reading a paper by Brian Hoeck is his name. For all of the rest of you on the internet, it’s BioHoeck. I don’t know the rest of it but you can…he did a real nice paper on ecumenism, and he brought out something I thought was kind of interesting. It wasn’t a major thing but it’s very interesting. The new coming religion of the world is called United Religion - UR. Abraham was called out of UR, Ur of the Chaldees, and the coming one world religion is going to be based on the Chaldean mysteries of all varieties including Egyptian, ok? This brethren, what we’re talking about here, verses 4, 5, and 6 took place on the night of the Passover. The night of the 14th. We have the promise of the physical seed from his own bowels. The promise of the spiritual seed as the stars of heaven. So everything else in the Bible flows from here, keyed to this one point.

Now verse 8, “And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And He said unto him, Take Me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto Him all these, and divided them in the midst [that means cut them right down the middle and put half to half], and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram;…” (vs. 8-12). Now I’ll just say it right here, you’ll have to listen to the tape and it will be in the Passover book. But this being on the 14th, this sacrifice right here depicted the coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And it was at the same time of the 14th that these sacrifices took place that Abraham sacrificed these, as when Jesus was on the cross and died. So that’s something. I mean this, brethren, is really just a marvelous thing when you understand it. Because right here God was saying, and I’ll just summarize it, “I will die to fulfill My promises to you, Abraham.”

“And when the sun was going down,…” When was Jesus taken off the cross? As the sun was going down. When was He sealed into the tomb? Right at sunset. So what we’re having here in verse 12, “…when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram;…” This was a type of the coming death of Christ. “…And, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge:…” When did He judge them? On the Passover, correct? Yes. “…And afterward…” After His judgment. When was the judgment? On the 14th. After the 14th, “…shall they come out with great substance.” Did that happen? Yes it did. When did they leave Egypt? On the 15th correct? Yes. “And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” Now notice verse 17. “And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down,…” What happens at sundown? The day ends. Well I know the sun goes down, I know that (Laughter), ok. It’s one of those foolish questions you know. Sometimes you ask dumb things. So this ended the 14th and now we’re into the 15th, right? Yes. When was Jesus fully in the tomb? On the 15th. When did the children of Israel come out of the land of Egypt? On the 15th after the sun went down at night, correct?

Now notice, “…and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.” Now this was done in vision so that Abraham could see that God walked through those parts. Now that is a maledictory oath, very important to understand. A covenant is different than any other thing. A covenant is irrevocable. So what God is doing by walking between those animals, He is pledging His death to fulfill the promises to take care of the…which cover for the children of Israel and for the Church, all wrapped up together in the 14th and 15th.

Now notice verse 18, “In the same day…” This is the self same day that they came out of Egypt 430 years later. The same day, that’s what it’s referring to. So this is the night of the 15th, “…the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates…” (vs. 12-18). Now we’re going to…there are other scriptures we can put in here but we’re going to go ahead and just cover two more here.

Let’s so to Joshua 5 because this comes even to the day. You see the thing that is important to remember is this: God is never early and God is never late. When He said that He covenanted with Abraham that He would bring them out of the land where they would be oppressed, He brought them out, what? The selfsame day that He covenanted that He would do it. God always does things on time. Now also there is more than one fulfillment of this day.

Let’s come here to Joshua 5:10, “And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover [which then is the 15th], unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day” (Josh. 5:10-11). Because God said He would give the manna to them until they came to the promised land. They came and inherited the promised land when? On the 15th day of the first month, on the morrow after the Passover, and then the manna ceased the next morning. So not only did they come out of Egypt on the 15th, they also entered the promised land on the 15th.

Now let’s carry this one step further, ok. Let’s go to Luke 12:32. Yes, well we’ll cover a few more things concerning it. I need to finish it, no use short circuiting it. Oh yes, here it is. Let’s go back to verse 31 cause this ties right in with it. “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” And the Night To Be Remembered is showing that we are on the road to being in the kingdom.

Now let’s come to John 16. There was one Night To Be Remembered which was very sorrowful for the disciples. And that was the night that…the first night that Jesus was in the tomb. And Jesus warned them about this. Let’s come here to verse 20. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). And so it was that night, that first Night To Be Remembered after Christ was put in the tomb, it was very, very sorrowful for them. But then Christ was resurrected, when? Right smack in the middle of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, see. And by the way, I, for the first time in 26 years I’ve done the last 10 days of Jesus life so you’ll get that updated charts to go with it and three sermons here probably in a week or 10 days and then we’ll have two more tapes to go with it.

Now let’s come to one more. Let’s come to Romans 5:8 cause you see, when we keep the Passover on the night of the 14th we are renewing the covenant for the New Covenant. We are again affirming that we are going to walk in the way of God, that in order to have our sins forgiven it required the sacrifice of Christ, that in order to be healed it required the broken body of Christ. And all of this was done…let’s pick it up here Romans 5:8. “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement [or that is, the passing over]” (Rom. 5:8-11).

So we, in celebrating the Night To Be Remembered, we are to remember all of these things that tie together with it. The coming out of Egypt, physically for the children of Israel. The coming out of this world spiritually for us. Knowing that our sins are under the blood of Christ. Knowing that we are waiting for the coming Kingdom of God. Knowing that we’ve been delivered from Satan the devil. Knowing that we’ve been delivered from this present evil world, which is Sodom and Egypt. And all of that has to do with the Night To Be Remembered to prepare us for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.